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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29805183">The Kraken</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shebephoebe/pseuds/shebephoebe'>shebephoebe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ben&amp;Bea [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Much Ado About Nothing (David T/Catherine T), Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, It's all fluff, healthy relationships and all that, someone who knows what they're doing please advise, still not sure if I include head-cannoned children in the tags</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:02:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29805183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shebephoebe/pseuds/shebephoebe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Benedick has been put in charge of the bedtime routine. The kids think it's going well.</p><p>Based on the stage production of Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. If you haven't watched it, do so; I do not do it justice in the least. Characterizations are based on character interpretations from that production. Shout out to my writing buddy Ruby for helping further develop the characters and storyline. We have Lore.<br/>Story is set following the events of the play. Like...a long time after the play.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beatrice/Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ben&amp;Bea [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098035</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Kraken</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was two hours past Adriana’s bedtime and they had church tomorrow, but his captive audience was too much for Benedick to resist</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With four pairs of eyes fixed on him, Benedick strummed dramatically on an old guitar, like a bard declaiming before a court of noblemen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The lantern light reflected off the waves, but did nothing to help us see what lurked beneath. The clouds still hid the moon. There was no sound on deck, not so much as the creak of the rigging. The entire ship was listening with baited breath.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guitar gave an off-key twang. Tricia shuddered, but he told himself it was because of the story and not his playing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And then we heard it,” he whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He checked on Adriana. She was wide-eyed, but not in terror, unless it was the gleeful kind. Matteo was worrying the fingernails on his right hand. Alexander was at least pretending to look bored. Tricia, meanwhile, had her blanket pulled up to her chin and hardly seemed to breathe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was all around us: a stirring of the water as if some great </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span> moved just below the surface. The light on the sea rippled. And then—” and he mimed a rush of wind, </span>
  <em>
    <span>whoosh</span>
  </em>
  <span>, “—the lights went out!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tricia squawked and pulled the blanket over her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A sliver of moonlight peeked through the clouds. I turned and saw Claudio looking back and me. He whispered….” Benedick leaned in. “‘The kraken.’”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adriana gasped in ghoulish delight. Matt moved to the nails of his left hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Benedick started playing a shanty he’d learned at sea, only at an eerie tempo and several octaves lower than one would sing along to. Then he began to recite, in the deep voice that made his students roll their eyes even as they grinned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Below the thunders of the upper deep,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The Kraken sleepeth</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The deck erupted into panic. The captain called for all hands. Even as the men moved to their stations, the lookout called an alarm. Every sailor turned back to the railings. I was frozen in terror. The moon had come out at last, and what it showed was a horror. The sea roiled like a boiling pot, rocking the ship to and fro. I clung to the railing. I couldn’t look away. The thing I had dreaded and dreamed of seeing was here, and we were doomed. It was—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sudden noise stopped him short. Benedick’s fingers stilled on the guitar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All four children stared at him. Alex was the first to realize this was not Benedick being dramatic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your mother!” Benedick hissed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The children all shrieked. Benedick tried shushing them, but they were seized with that giddy and frightful anticipation that comes with having been discovered awake way past bedtime.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Benedick began to play again, just to get their attention. “Go to bed, go to bed, go to sleep before your mother kills us all!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The kraken!” Matteo cried, perhaps unhelpfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adriana squealed again. Tricia had barely come out from under the blanket and dove right back under cover when the front door opened. She was giggling now, her terror chased away. Benedick tried to shush her but couldn’t stop his own laughter. He clapped Alex on the back as the boy made his retreat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Matteo was still waving his hands and crying “Monster! The kraken! The kraken!” in a stage whisper, ignoring Adriana’s insistence that he leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beatrice called out something indistinct from the front hall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s coming!” Benedick struggled out of the low chair he’d been sitting in, clutching his guitar. It knocked against one of the bedposts and twanged in complaint. Benedick ushered Matteo from the room. “Back to your post, sailor! Hurry, hurry, before she takes us down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hall light switched on as Benedick and Matteo dove into the boys’ room. Setting the guitar to one side, Benedick gathered up Matteo and tossed him onto the top bunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned as Beatrice’s shadow filled the doorway. Behind him, Matteo wriggled under the covers, hissing, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>The kraken.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s going on here?” Beatrice asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Benedick leaned against the bed. “Needed water,” he offered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beatrice’s eyes scanned for a glass of water and fell on the guitar. Behind her, Benedick could hear Tricia shushing Adriana.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If they’re all beasts tomorrow, it’s your fault.” Lips twitching, Beatrice looked back to the bed. “Good night, boys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both boys mumbled, “Night, Mama,” in strained voices.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clearing his throat, Benedick spun Beatrice back into the hall and closed the boys’ door behind them, leaving his guitar inside. “How was the movie?”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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